The deadline is looming for fund managers to get licensed under the Financial Markets Conduct Act (FMCA) and the Financial Markets Authority is putting out the final call to those that want to stay in the game.

Under the FMCA, fund managers, discretionary investment management service providers and derivatives issuers must meet new governance and capability standards before 1 December 2016.

Most firms have now completed licensing but those firms who have not yet put in applications must get their applications in by 30 August. The licensing process can take up to 12 weeks so the sooner businesses start talking to the FMA’s licensing team, the sooner they can iron out any challenges the application may bring.

Liam Mason, Director of Regulation says “When the Financial Markets Conduct Act came into effect we were very clear in setting out an appropriate implementation time so the industry could go through the licensing process and meet the standards of the new regulation. Our experience shows that businesses need to take time to work through the process so we need to engage with a few providers that haven’t started the process.

“Our licensing team talk to new applicants about the minimum standards and level of compliance they will need to continue offering financial products and services to consumers. This process is a good opportunity for the FMA to talk individually to providers about conduct obligations under the new Act.”

The FMA is currently processing 40 licence applications, is in discussion with another 12 providers but believes there may be more out there that still need to apply in order to stay in business after 1 December.

Firms offering financial products under the FMC Act also need to make sure they leave enough time to prepare a PDS and upload detailed information about their schemes and offers on the Companies Office Disclose Register by 30 November 2016.

The vast majority of the industry is on track to be licensed and have completed the transition to the new Act. An important sector of the market to many New Zealanders – their KiwiSaver provider – have been approved or are being processed.